Back in the days – the pre-coupon/pre-Dave Ramsey days – I was pretty snobby about my purchases. I thought name brands meant something. And I smugly looked down my nose at my lil’ sister[4] who used cheap shampoo as body wash.

I only bought the best.

Well, come to find out, the best isn’t really the best. And it’s expensive. And, as a result, it just isn’t worth it.

As I’ve tightened my spending and developed little price rules[5] for myself, I’ve found that many products can serve other purposes than the one that they are marketed for. Janel’s use of cheap shampoo for body wash is a good example.

Other things that I have recently subbed include:

* Lots of my favorite baking recipes call for sour cream, but the brand we like rarely goes on a great sale. However, store brand yogurt is super cheap, especially when on special. I usually buy the plain variety for smoothies since it is better for us. Now, I’m subbing it for the sour cream in my baking and it’s turning out great.

* I bought Huggies baby wash for $.50/bottle a few months back and have used that to refill our hand soap dispensers. It works great, smells good, and costs a lot less than Soft Soap or Walmart’s cheap alternative.

* My big stash of baby wipes[6] is not lasting me as long as I anticipated. And I haven’t seen a good deal lately. But, I did have a $3 coupon for Huggies CleanTeam flushable wipes. This made them $.50/package. So, we will be using these for baby wipes until I see a better deal.

How about you? Do you use a product for something other than its “intended purpose” in order to save money? Let us know in the comments section.